New Risks
by Kathryn Claire O'Connor
Summary: *sequel to New Life* After the bus malfunctions, its two remaining occupants spend their time in a frantic search for their teammates, never quite stopping to consider what's happening between the two of them in the mean time until the life they've created alone is invaded once again.
1. Chapter 1

**Here it is at long last, the first sequel to "New Life," "New Risks," the Philinda-centric four-shot. Enjoy! Reviews and votes on my poll would make my day, if you're interested! Thanks!**

* * *

"Alright then," Phil said, taking a deep breath and looking around the lounge area of the bus and taking a mental tally of who was there.

Lance Hunter and Bobbi, the latter of whom was holding their fourteen-month-old son, Alec.

Fitz and Skye, each of whom was holding one of their nine-month-old twins, Ella and Brody.

Ward and Simmons, with their six-month-old daughter, Lizzie, who was in her mother's arms.

There, right beside Phil, was Melinda, sitting quietly with their own fourteen-month-old son, Shang in her lap.

And then, in the middle of it all, looking like he didn't quite know who to kill first, was former SHIELD director Nick Fury. Only, there was probably a fair chance that Fury had taken back over his position since Phil and the rest of his team had dropped off of the grid two years ago, following a bus malfunction that'd had major ramifications. The thought made Phil's heart sink, but Fury was still staring at him expectantly, waiting for answers.

"What," the man with the eye patch bit out. "Happened here?"

"Essentially?" Phil answered carefully. "Domesticity. We… made new lives for ourselves here – once we all got back on the bus, that is."

"So you haven't all been here the entire time then?"

"Oh, no, of course not; Ward and Simmons were the last ones we found, and they've only been back for a half a year."

"When did…" Fury waved dismissively at Shang, managing, "_this _happen?"

"Well, technically, _Shang _happened on the night that the others fell from the bus."

"You and Agent May never fell from the bus, then?"

"No, we were the only two left aboard, and we spent the next two years looking for the others."

"Then how exactly did you go from being two of SHIELD's very best, most driven agents to… Ward and June Cleaver?"

Phil chuckled nervously, ignoring the way that Melinda tensed exponentially at his side as he answered, "Well, you see, it's a little hard to pinpoint that moment in amongst everything that happened."

"We've already established that I've got the time, Coulson." Fury drawled, still obviously unimpressed. "Go ahead and tell me the whole story."

"Well, as you know, we were all at the exit ramp, getting ready to release Ward into the custody of his brother's people when we noticed the bus seemed to be getting a little unstable."

"The entire bus was _rattling in midair_," Ward drawled.

"Yes, it was, and since Melinda was in the cockpit at the time, I went to see what was going on. It was a minor malfunction and we never lost the ability to fly, but since the ramp was already open, everyone but Melinda and I fell off the bus – not that either of us knew that until we regained the bus's stability and left the cockpit."

* * *

_Two years earlier_

"No. No, no, no, no!" Phil cried, beginning to run around the bus as he gave into his desperation. "They're gone. How are they gone? They can't all be gone! They've got to be here! Somebody's still got to be here!"

Suddenly there was a hand on each of his shoulders, forcing him to be still, to stop, to breathe, to calm down and look into black eyes as someone spoke to him. For a long moment the words she was saying didn't even make sense, but slowly they began to filter through his panic and calm him.

May. It was Agent May who was staring at him, talking to him, demanding that he just _breathe_.

"Calm down, Phil. You've got to calm down and breathe; panicking helps no one right now."

He finally managed to rasp out brokenly, "The whole team…"

"I know," she said quietly.

For the first time, Phil's vision cleared of his panic enough for him to notice the glassiness in her eyes, and he managed to feel the smallest ripple of shock. Was Melinda May going to _cry_? The very idea terrified him as he realized just how _bad _this was if that was the case – and then he did the most ridiculous thing he could think of, quite without thinking about it. He pulled May to him and hugged her. She wrapped her arms around his waist and they stayed like that long enough that hugging simply became holding – the two of them standing there and just breathing together, gathering their wits and trying to process the huge loss that they'd just been dealt.

Finding his breath and managing to get his brain back in gear, Phil promised quietly against her hair, "We will find them."

The words seemed to break whatever spell had momentarily taken over the silent bus and she nodded, pulling away from him and visibly pulling herself together as she replied, back to being all business, "Of course we will."

"Can we tell what exactly happened here, beyond the fact that they all fell out?"

"Best as I can figure? That they fought not to and lost the battle… although there is one parachute missing from the rack."

"Thirty bucks says Ward's the one who managed to grab it."

May grinned sadly at the equally sad half-attempt at a joke, muttering, "Probably." Then she asked seriously, "What do we do if we aren't going to be able to figure out where they landed?"

"We look for them – anywhere we have to. Where are we anyway?"

May moved towards the tech room and Phil followed her, the bus still feeling far too ominous and silent with only the two of them on it. Once there, she punched a couple buttons – and paled at the answer that appeared on the screen. "We're right over the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness."

"That sounds inviting," Coulson deadpanned, his guts twisting even more like a pretzel than they had been before.

"It means we're currently hovering over Idaho."

"Idaho," Phil repeated, releasing a soft breath. "That sounds better. Idaho I can do."

"They can manage, too, I'm sure," May offered.

Noting the hesitancy flickering beneath the surface of her eyes and words, Coulson asked, _"Are_ you sure?"


	2. Chapter 2

May hesitated, so Phil divulged more of what he was thinking. "Ward can survive anything, anywhere. So long as they aren't too out of commission physically, the same thing can be said for Hunter and Bobbi."

May sighed, muttering bluntly, "But Skye and Fitzsimmons might not be so capable when it comes to survival skills."

"They'll manage; they'll all manage, and they'll all make it. They're our team; we both know what they're capable of."

Phil heard the desperation behind the optimism in his voice, so he knew May heard it too, if for no other reason than the way she forced a disheartened smile onto her lips for his sake and muttered, equally for his benefit, "Of course."

* * *

But by the end of the day, not even Phil was feeling much hope – just the beginnings of desperation. He had spent the rest of the day in the cockpit with May, while they flew low over the wilderness looking for any sign of their lost teammates – without any luck.

Final light had long come and gone when Phil finally stated the obvious, "May, you've got to sleep sometime."

"So do you," she replied, eyes never wavering from their constant, now-useless scanning of the horizon as her tone declared just how determined she was _not _to budge from her seat.

"Yes," Phil amended, "_We've _got to sleep – and trying to look through all of this isn't doing us any good, not unless we uncloak and turn the searchlights on." May growled in irritation, both of them knowing how bad of an idea that could be, and Phil stood up, removing his headset and placing his hand over hers on the controls as he said softly, "Come on, May; put it on autopilot and come to bed until the sun starts to come back up."

"No."

He could've ordered her – he should have just ordered her – to her bunk, but he just didn't have the energy for giving out an order after the day they'd had. Something about being the only two on the bus made them seem even more like equals than ever before, and he just wasn't in the mood to change that.

"Then I'm going to bed by myself."

"Have you had anyone else in your bed here?" she asked with an arch of her eyebrows, a sarcastic question born of his poor choice in wording.

"No, of course not."

"Then why make going to bed by yourself sound like such a bad thing?"

"Because you need to sleep too, and if I don't drag you to bed along with me, I know you well enough to know that you're not going to sleep at all tonight. Considering what's happened, you'll never leave this cockpit and your searching if I don't make you."

"Phil," she snorted with a smirk of a smile. "I think you need to stop talking right now; you're exhausted. Do you even realize that the words 'drag you to bed along with me' just came out of your mouth?"

He groaned, muttering, "That's not what I meant. I have had a hard day, you have had a hard day, and quite frankly, I refuse to take anything but the best care of the one member of my team that I can still care for – and if that requires physically carrying you _into my bunk _and locking you in that dinky space _with me all night_, then I _will do it_! Make no mistake about that! Now _get. Up._"

May glanced his way, slowly coming out of what he could only think to identify as shock – not that he wasn't shocked at himself, for that matter – and then just as slowly began to put the bus on autopilot and leave her seat, marching past him and toward the bunks. At first relieved, Phil found himself confused when she bypassed her own bunk without a glance. Confusion was quickly replaced by something more like his own shock when he watched her go into _his _bunk and begin to _undress _casual as you please.

"What the heck are you doing?" he asked a little more loudly then he'd meant to.

May didn't look at him as she answered simply, "You said I could." She folded her cat suit of a uniform over her arm and even though she still wasn't meeting his gaze, he saw the flush in her cheeks, heard the _vulnerability_ in her voice as she added quietly, "I don't want to be alone."

His breath caught in her throat as he realized just how hard saying something like that was for her, how much of a risk she had to feel she was taking – and that she was choosing to let him hear it. For her, that was an amazing thing – and it suddenly meant the world to him.

"Okay," he replied abruptly, reaching up to take off his tie. "That's fine."

He had no idea why, when he got into the bed, he didn't just stay on an edge and leave them at least semi-comfortable on their own sides, as far away as possible from one another, but he didn't. He had no idea why he wrapped his arms around her, her back to his front, and kissed her scalp, but he did. For once in her life, Melinda May was all but asking to be taken care of – she was actually letting it slip that she wanted him to help her – and he _was not _going to pass up the opportunity to show her that was more than okay, that he was more than willing to do what she was asking.

Sighing almost silently, May turned in his arms and rested her head on his now-bare chest, both of them taking a minute to just breathe, to take in what was happening.

"Thank you, Phil," May whispered carefully, moving her head so that she could meet his eyes in the darkness.

He whispered just as softly, "My pleasure."

For a long, silent minute, they just laid there, May looking at him, trying to decipher how much truth was behind those two words, and he just let her do it – let her see that he understood how much of a risk this was in her mind, how much this vulnerability was costing her, and how very much it meant to him. How very much _she _meant to him.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey, guys, I just reloaded my poll - took off some of the stories that I'd finished and put on some new ones that I'm considering - and I would love it if you'd cast your votes! Thanks!**

* * *

Phil was never sure how or why what happened next even happened, just that it had. It was far too sudden with far too horrible timing – but it was important, and it was life-changing, and quite frankly, in his own private opinion, it was about dang time. What had started out as a frozen moment in time – the two of them meeting in the middle for an extremely cautious, almost questioning kiss – hadn't truly ended, not with any sort of coherent thought anyway, until the next morning when he'd woken to both parties' total nudity and her sleeping ever so comfortably in his arms.

His first instinct should have been to scramble out of the bed and get as far away from this situation as he could, but he didn't do that. No; there was more to it… he found that he _couldn't _do that. In total honesty, he and May had ended up in this situation exactly twice before, back when they'd still been in the academy together – and both times before, far too much alcohol had been involved. But this was different. The same in a way, but different – and after the shock of the day before, it was nice.

So maybe that's why, when night was upon them again, May went into his bunk without a comment from either of them. And again the next night… and the night after that… until it became a habit. Not always was there anything more than sleeping, but somehow the closeness they felt in the night began to seep into their daytime interactions.

Then one day he'd kissed her before they slipped out of bed, as had become a morning ritual, only to realize that what they were doing here could be classified as being in a romantic relationship – a real one – and while they hadn't been paying attention, it had become exactly that.

It took two weeks for a habit to form. Two weeks of being alone together with no one to impress and that's what had happened – they'd concentrated on looking for their team members and while their guards were down, they'd… well, fallen in love.

Then their goal was accomplished – in part, at least – and they were left with a different sort of happiness and a whole new host of questions.

Two weeks after they'd fallen from the bus, Hunter and Bobbi were spotted together in the Nez Perce Forest, recovered by their team members, and, of course, brought back aboard the bus. Phil and Melinda – yes, at some point in the past weeks he'd started addressing her by her first name – were thrilled to see them again… but where did that leave them as a couple? _Were _they a real couple? Was this romantic angle of their relationship something they wanted to pursue even around others – around their team? Was it worth the flack they would almost certainly get? Phil thought so, but what he didn't know was what Melinda's opinion of the situation was.

Starting the moment Hunter and Bobbi were back on the bus, they'd pulled away from one another as the two of them scrabbled a little desperately to make things look unchanged between them. But things had changed – and that was a pretty undeniable fact, no matter how hard they were trying _to_ deny it.

They hadn't talked much at all in the week since Hunter and Bobbi had returned, both too afraid the other agents would catch onto the fact that something was up, and Melinda certainly hadn't been sleeping in his bunk anymore. So Phil was startled – and happily surprised – when he walked into his bunk to retire for the night only to find Melinda sitting on the edge of the bed, having obviously been waiting for him.

Seeing him arrive, Melinda nodded at the door, indicating he should close it, and when he did, she said instantly, "Something's up with Hunter and Morse."

"What; do you think they caught on?" he asked with a frown. It wasn't like there wasmuch for them to even catch onto, right?

A smile played about the corners of her mouth as she answered with ease, "Oh yeah; they started figuring that out the day after they got back. But haven't you noticed? That's when I started noticing a difference too – between them."

"You're implying what, exactly?" Phil asked warily.

She looked at him, totally unimpressed as she continued, "Look, I don't gossip; that's not something I do; it's not what I'm doing. I'm simply sharing my observations from this past week – and maybe even advising you, as director, to talk to them about what the situation is there."

"Why?" Phil asked, narrowing his eyes at her. "You're a 'let's each mind our own business' type of person, so why do you want me to look into this?"

"Don't you get it?" Melinda grinned – actually _grinned _– as she stepped up to him and took his hands in her own. "If they're together again – and I really do think they are – then there's a solid chance that they'd be okay with knowing about our relationship."

"Is that what this is?" Phil asked with upraised eyebrows. "Because right now it looks more like we've been trying to pretend those two weeks never happened."

At that she just stared at him for a beat. The unintended harshness in his voice had caught her off guard he realized, watching her blink and take a deep breath before she began to speak in that same soul-baring tone she'd used during their first evening alone. "I know… but I don't like it. I know we haven't discussed it, so I'm not sure where you stand, but I know what I think – what I… feel. This past week feels like a lie, like we've been faking… something. But what happened when we were alone on this bus… Phil, I want… no, I _have _to believe that was real. I _know _it was, and I want to keep on believing it – being... a couple – even if and when every single member of our team is back on this bus. I'm sure we'll eventually hear about it from the higher-ups and certainly from the team, but if it means that I get to keep loving you and staying at your side in every way that I want to, then I honestly couldn't care less." She blinked again, surprised at herself and what she'd just said, before she muttered a little self-consciously, "But that's just me."


	4. Chapter 4

"No," Phil replied, realizing it was his turn to open his suddenly uncooperative mouth and tell her exactly where he stood. "It's not just you;" he squeezed her hands, declaring, "I don't like it either – not at all – and I trust your judgment. If you think it's safe to tell Bobbi and Hunter and continue to pursue a relationship with one another, then we will."

She smiled again, asking – was that _eagerness _in her tone? – asking, "When?"

"Ah… whenever you want to, I guess. Like I said, I trust you here."

He had expected a number of different answers from her – maybe an after-dinner meeting tomorrow, even – but what he had not expected was for Melinda to smile even wider and drag him out the door and down to Hunter's bunk. She didn't even knock, just flung the bunk's door open, revealing Coulson's two recovered agents in a compromising position, the image of which would unfortunately be seared into Phil's brain forever.

"I told you," Melinda said smoothly with a triumphant smile in his direction as she managed to see completely unaffected by what they'd just walked in on.

Having scrambled to cover themselves the second Melinda opened the door, Hunter and Bobbi both looked equal parts embarrassed and horrified – much as Phil felt at the moment – Hunter managed to ask, "How much trouble are we in?"

"Get dressed," Phil muttered. "And meet May and I in the lounge in three minutes."

So saying, he slammed the door to Hunter's room closed and glared at Melinda, realizing they were still holding hands as he tugged her towards the lounge, hissing, "Why did you do that?!"

Melinda shrugged, smirking and acting a little calmer – a little more like herself – as she answered simply, "It's the most solid proof we were going to get."

"I would have taken your word for it!"

She grinned unrepentantly. It had been a long time since Phil had been in the line of fire for any mischief from Melinda May, and despite his exasperation with her at the moment, a part of his brain could acknowledge that the childishness was something of a good thing. It showed just how relaxed she was, how open to him, how much she was returning back to the young woman he'd loved all those years ago – and for that he was thrilled.

"You know, we could return the favor," Melinda said with a smirk as Phil sank down into the recliner.

"What?"

Rolling her eyes at his temporary cluelessness, Melinda folded herself onto his lap, placed her hands on his cheeks, and for the first time in a week, she kissed him. And didn't let said kiss end – not that Phil was complaining at all – until they heard Hunter's and Bobbi's twin exclamations from the doorway. _What _was wrong with Melinda right now?

But Phil didn't let on; he decided to just go with it. He couldn't change it, so why the heck not? Ending his and Melinda's kiss slowly – almost unwillingly – he leaned back into his chair and addressed Hunter and Bobbi, ignoring their stunned expressions as he said leisurely, "Let's talk."

* * *

As Melinda had predicted, Bobbi and Hunter accepted the news easily, having apparently figured other that there was something between the two agents long before they had admitted. Within another month, the dynamic around the bus had shifted again from being four agents to two couples who just happened to have special training. It made the atmosphere on the bus much… homier. They left behind SHIELD levels and protocol and began to treat one another as equals.

The four of them found that they hadn't been so happy in a long time, even with the continued worry for their still-missing teammates.

Then life threw them curveballs.

Both Melinda and Bobbi… were expecting.

This fact led to a very unexpected conversation between the quartet.

Bobbi and Hunter had cracked first, bringing up their upcoming baby over their nightly team dinners. Bobbi had been the one to ask afterward – suddenly looking so very _suspicious_ – why Phil and Melinda weren't flipping out at the news and when Phil had shared a guilty glance with his partner, Hunter had sworn.

"You guys too? Seriously?" he asked incredulously before he scoffed, only halfway joking, "There's just no outdoing you two, is there?"

"Well," Bobbi muttered. "I doubt they've yet to discuss what we did while in the forest."

"Of course they haven't," Hunter realized. "How would they have discussed remarriage when they haven't even been married once yet?"

"Excuse me?" Phil asked while Melinda repeated "remarriage?" both of them equally shocked.

Bobbi glared at Hunter – apparently he'd let a cat out of its bag – before she turned to Phil and Melinda and declared, with a sigh, "We've been trying to figure out a way to ask you guys if we could maybe take a couple of days to go to Portland and… yeah, remarry."

Phil's mind instantly balked at the idea of Portland, and he heard himself say without thinking about it, "No."

Melinda glanced at him and instantly recognized the problem, saying, "We can't chance word of Phil being alive finding its way back to Ms. Nathan."

Bobbi questioned, "Your problem isn't with the idea of us being married, then?"

"No," Phil repeated, adding for good measure, "Of course not."

Hunter spoke up, asking, "What about going to Salem instead, then?"

"That," Phil answered with a small smile, "We can do. Just tell us when you guys want to go."]

Hunter looked at Bobbi with raised eyebrows, she grinned, and Melinda slid onto her feet, declaring, "In that case, I'll go reset our course."

_Reset our course_, Phil mused, sitting back in her chair and watching Melinda as she walked towards the cockpit. Fighting not to worry his lip at the idea, he wondered how she would respond to the thought of a ring or two finding a way into their relationship as well. There was only one way to find out...

The four of them spent three days in Salem before returning to the bus and the search for their missing teammates, and when they did so it was as two now-married couples. And Phil was still kind of in awe of that fact.

But the problem with real life was that it was exactly that – real life, not a fairytale, certainly not when half of Phil's team was still missing. There was no honeymoon to go off to or come back from – the two couples weren't the type anyway. They just enjoyed a weekend off of the bus and then went back to their search. Half of their family was still missing, and they weren't going to rest until they were safe again.

* * *

Phil eyed Fury frankly across the lounge, finishing up his tale with a simple, "And that really is all that there is to it. Nothing flashy for Melinda and I. Life happened, we were married, and then Shang was born six months later."

Fury took a deep breath, staring Phil down for a long moment until the former director looked away – towards Hunter and Bobbi as he said, pointing at Alec, "Fine, Coulson, it's you're agency now anyway – but that still doesn't explain the existence of that one."

"'That one'" Bobbi bit out. "Is named Alec… and there's a pretty simple story behind him too."

"I think it's pretty interesting!" Hunter objected as if he'd taken offense to his wife's words.

Fury glared with his one good eye, stating, "Well then, I've still got plenty of time; let's hear it."

* * *

**The end... of this story anyway. Reviews would make my day, if you feel so inclined, not to mention votes on my poll! The Huntingbird sequel to this will be up soon! **


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